The new rules focus on handling and owning potentially hazardous animals that simply don’t belong in residential areas where they might threaten public safety. We’re talking about, as the rules state, “wild and dangerous” animals like jungle cats, bears, primates, alligators and lethal venomous snakes. (The exact list of banned animals is still being developed.)
The U.S. Humane Society pushed for the change and forged a deal in which it agreed to back off on its call for better treatment of farm animals in return for the exotic pet ban. The organization’s view is that it’s cruel to deprive exotic animals of their lives in the wild.
Overall, the numbers are small (14 people hurt or killed in 20 years). But the results can be terribly tragic, as in the case of 48-year-old Dayton firefighter Michael Peterson, who had significant experience handling poisonous snakes for the department. He was, nonetheless, fatally bitten by his own pet viper in 2003.
The risks extend beyond the pet owners themselves. Animals have been known to escape, sometimes placing neighbors or their traditional pets at risk of attack.
There also are a lot more of these animals in the state than most people would guess — 89 pet black bears alone, for example. Local communities are burdened with the cost and the dangers of trying to trap those that escape.
Typically, it takes a high-profile incident to prompt states to action. In Connecticut, it was a chimpanzee’s attack on a woman that resulted in new law. In Florida, it was a young child squeezed to death by a large snake. Ohio’s changes, thankfully, weren’t prompted directly by such an incident, although coincidentally a Lorain County man was killed by his employer’s pet bear last month.
Opponents of exotic pets didn’t get everything they wanted. Some were pushing for an immediate ban that might have required pet owners to get rid of their animals in short order.
Instead, the rules on the table take a sensible middle ground. They ban new pets that qualify as dangerous. Current pet owners may keep their exotic animals, but the state will have the ability to remove animals from homes if their owners act irresponsibly. This should help confine the risks more tightly to the pet owner, although the “grandfathering” process means dangers will remain until all of today’s exotic pets die off.
There’s nothing wrong with an unusual pet, provided the animal can be comfortably domesticated and isn’t a major threat to kill or maim others.
— Cox News Service